~Miss Autumn and her Paper Pattern Skirt~

I love love love the Harvest time of the year and I'm so happy it's around the corner.  It was time to spruce up my booth today and so I spent the evening working on new displays and removing some of the old and bringing in some new...  I always love the changing of the seasons and I start out trying something new if at all possible...

Just a quick post about my little mannequin.  I dressed her in a skirt made of old paper patterns with lots of layers and ruffles.  I used a crocheted doily for a collar and burlap as a modified vest.  Vintage silk ribbon was used for her waistband.  It was tattered and worn and simply fabulous.  The original paper wrapping for the ribbon was used to fashion her Miss Autumn banner.  

She was so much fun to make and I think she'll be a real conversation piece.

This next week I travel to Tennessee to help my sister with her estate sale.  She closed her shop and they are downsizing and selling their home.  Big job ahead...

We are bringing the vintage counter from the late 1800's back with us...  Remember I told you we are modifying it for our kitchen island.  By the way...our wood flooring goes in this weekend.  The last of the projects before the kitchen is completely finished except for the island.  We are beyond excited.  The nightmare is finally almost OVAHHHHH and we are both actually still ALIVE.  

Will share more will you soon.  Can't wait to show you the big reveal!

Love to you...

~VINTAGE MANNEQUIN DRESS FORM~ A Makeover From the Ground Up

~VERY MOULIN ROUGE~

Earlier this month I shared with you some photos of the hot pink and black dress form I discovered at a local shoppe (you can see her at the top)!  Miss Josephine (that is what I named her) was originally bright hot pink and lots of black and way tooo intense for me!  Well, Miss J's transformation began a couple of days after I found and today I'm going to walk talk you through her makeover up until this point!

 ~A BODY of FIBERGLASS~

I've purchased several new and vintage and antique dress forms over the years and all were made of metal, papier-mâché or layered cardboard.  Well... my new friend, Josephine, is the first one I've ever found made of fiberglass.  I wasn't even sure what her body was made of until I asked my Mr. AGPman about it.  (No wonder my fingertips felt like I was being stuck with prickly little needles!)

~WHAT A MESS~

I began by removing her fabric covering and the thin layer of gray foam.  It had been attached with cheap hot glue so most of it pulled right off (I also removed her finial).

~JOINT COMPOUND~

(sold in tubs at hardware stores)

After discovering she wasn't made of papier-mâché (my first guess) I knew immediately I'd have to resurface her body with joint compound (JC).

 ~LATEX GLOVES A MUST~

I donned a pair (several to be honest with you) of latex gloves and began by NEATLY smoothing the JC over the fiberglass webbing with my hands.

 ~WORK IN SMALL PATCHES~

 ~SMOOTH ON CAREFULLY~

You want to make sure when apply JC that you smooth out as much of the product as possible.  You will need to sand off any ridges and bumps so the smoother your surface ends up being the less work you'll have later on!

~DRYING IN THE SUN~

After thoroughly drying (only took about an hour in our Oklahoma HEAT!) I lightly sanded off the rough areas and applied a second coat with a 3" sponge brush!  My goal was to have a fairly smooth surface but one that would have some character after it was painted!  I didn't take a picture of the sanding part because I didn't want to ruin my $$$ camera!  (WEAR A MASK!  That powdery stuff goes everywhere!)

 ~PRIMED with ZINSSER~

After smoothing out my new best friend :) I feathered off the majority of the dust and then primed her with Zinsser 123 Primer using a fresh 3" sponge brush.  Do not skip this part.  If you paint directly over JC it will not hold and will eventually crack and flake off!  You also cannot spray paint over JC.  All it does is absorb into the JC and you waste a bunch of money!

~LATEX PAINT FINISH~

After priming I gave her two coats of my favorite Cottage White Latex Paint (Behr Paint/Home Depot).  Now, I just may recoat her again with my favorite sugary pink paint (custom color) before I move on...

I have great plans for Miss Josephine!  I've pretty much settled on a French Theme and plan on hand painting French lettering and maybe some tiny roses on her body in a sweeping garland-type style. Again...haven't fully decided yet!  I'll keep you posted.  At least for now this is where I'm at!

I'm off to work!  Hope your day is fabulous!

Love to you...

~~~~ROMANTIC PARIS FRENCH DRESS FORM~~~ A Romantic Makeover is Coming

~SHABBY FRENCH~

Just popping in to let you know my Miss K and I have had a smashing-good-time around town today.  Early this morning we were up and about visiting one of our most favorite places to shop!  We were supposed to be looking for BOOTS for school, but instead we I snagged this amazing Frenchy-Looking-Dress Form!

~OOO LA LA~

Boy do I have makeover plans for her!

I can't wait to get started!

~FRENCH CHIC~

Right now she's OK...great if you love black and hot pink!  I actually think she's pretty stunning as is...she just won't fit in with my decor!  The top is made of fabric over papier-mâché and the stand is cast metal.  The finial is made of wood.

~PRETTY SIDE VIEW~

Anyway...last October while visiting my big sister in Tennessee we spent a little bit of time painting old finds and sprucing up product for her booth at an local antique mall...  She had this incredible dress form (counter style) that she rescued from the dumpster (not kidding) and together we began to transform her!  We layered her with vintage laces which included old collars and cuffs!  I didn't have a picture of it so I hopped on over to Facebook and stole hers (thanks, Lin!).

~LACE COVERED BEAUTY~

(Seen in Dickson, Tennessee)

I'm not 100% sure exactly what I'm going to do with the one I found today...I only know she's going to be transformed into something wonderful...  I just couldn't pass her up!

I'm thinking I'm living right.  I know!  I know!  I stumble onto simply incredible things...don't hate me! :)

Hope your Friday was fab!

Love to you...